NDMTSS Conference
Conference Details & Materials
Special Note: There will not be a traditional June 2025 NDMTSS Conference in Fargo. Stay tuned for Summer 2025 NDMTSS Opportunities coming soon!
2024 NDMTSS Conference: Learn | Empower | Grow
June 10-12, 2024 | Holiday Inn, Fargo
Featured Speakers
Aaron Stabel
Bio
Aaron Stabel is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst with over 20 years of experience supporting school districts and families across the country to assess and implement interventions for children with social-emotional, behavioral, and developmental disabilities. He has also contributed to several university-based research projects, including the National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders, the Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism, and the University of Wyoming’s ECHO Project. Aaron also enjoys camping and exploring rivers with his wife and two daughters whenever he gets the chance.
Dr. George M. Batsche
Bio
Dr. George M. Batsche is a Professor and Director Emeritus and previous Professor and Coordinator of graduate programs in School Psychology at the University of South Florida. He was the Co-Director of the Institute for School Reform at USF. The Institute is focused on an integrated service delivery model to improve academic and behavioral/social-emotional outcomes for all students using a MTSS framework. The majority of his work has focused on systemic district and statewide school reform and improvement initiatives with an emphasis on improving the performance of students with disabilities and at-risk populations. Dr. Batsche has authored more than 75 publications (journal articles, book chapters, books, technical reports) related to his work. Dr. Batsche also serves on numerous state departments of education advisory boards and is the Vice-Chair of the Professional Advisory Board for the National Center on Learning Disabilities (NCLD.) Dr. Batsche’s experience also includes serving as a school psychologist, a building principal and a district administrator.
Dr. Dawn Miller, Ph.D.
Bio
Dr. Dawn Miller, Ph.D., is Associate Director of Technical Assistance of SWIFT Education Center at the University of Kansas. Her experience includes roles in statewide and district planning, professional learning, implementation, and evaluation of an integrated Multi-Tier System of Support (MTSS). In addition she served on a committee that led state regulatory changes regarding Child Find and eligibility of children in the community for special education services and translated these changes into district procedures linked to MTSS. Dr. Miller is well known for her leadership in a national network of like-minded individuals and state agencies who share a vision for and systems approach to supporting student success. She has recently published a book on Leading Equity-Based MTSS for All Students, contributed to the literature in several Best Practices in School Psychology volumes, and had other publications related to MTSS. She strives daily to support the creation of a single system that demonstrates strong outcomes for each and every student.
Shannon Harken, M.A.Ed.
Bio
Shannon Harken, M.A.Ed., began her career as an elementary and special education teacher in 1991. She also served as a special education consultant in a problem-solving service delivery system, where she helped school-based teams use data to develop a more efficient, proactive, and systematic process to meet the needs of all students. Shannon currently works as an RtI Professional Learning and Leadership Consultant (PLLC) for Heartland AEA 11.
Based on her experiences, teaching background, and knowledge from experts in the field, Shannon has spent the last 10 years, co-authoring and training RtI modules in the areas of consensus building, infrastructure development, and implementation to hundreds of school-based teams across the country interested in implementing RtI. She also has co-developed several organizational tools, such as a four-box format that groups students with similar instructional needs and provides guidance for an appropriate instructional match and action plans, for school-based teams to use as they work towards implementing RtI.
In addition to training new schools Shannon provides on-going follow-up trainings, holds coaches meetings, and assists buildings with data analysis and decision making. The lessons she continually learns while in the “RtI implementation trenches” greatly enhance her work as she strives to assist schools to raise the achievement of all students.
Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden
Bio
Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden is a policy adviser and thought leader who actively conducts research focused on improving learning outcomes for students. She has served as a standing panel member for NIH, IES at the U.S. Department of Education, an adviser and reviewer for NCII, USAID, the IRIS center, the Dyslexia Foundation, and numerous state departments of education. Dr. VanDerHeyden has authored a number of policy guides and position statements, and delivered testimony on the use of Multi-Tier Systems of Support (MTSS) MTSS and Response to Intervention (RTI) to identify students for special education. She is credited with developing models of academic screening that are widely used in schools, conducting innovative research in mathematics screening and progress monitoring using mastery measurement, and the creation of SpringMath. Dr. VanDerHeyden is President of Education Research & Consulting in Fairhope, Alabama, and has a faculty affiliation with the Wheelock College of Education at Boston University.
